A wide variety of memory media can be used to maintain and store information (e.g., data and instructions) for various computers and similar systems. In particular, flash memory is a type of electronic memory media that can be rewritten and does not require power to retain information. Information is stored in flash memory in the form of binary bit(s) (e.g., logic “0”, “1”, “00”, “01”, “10”, “11”). In an unprogrammed state, a flash memory bit represents a logic 1. Any unprogrammed bit of a flash memory byte can be programmed to a logic 0 during a write operation. However, in order to change the state of a flash memory bit from a logic 0 to a logic 1, the entire block and/or sector that contains the flash memory bit must be erased—thus, writing a logic 1 to a programmed bit requires erasure of a fixed, multi-byte flash memory block and/or sector that contains the programmed bit.
The advent of flash memory has led to the development of flash memory solid state drive devices, which improve the portability of systems that require increased information storage—unlike mechanical drives, solid state drive devices lack moving parts, consume less power, and are more portable. One concern with conventional flash memory solid state drive technology is that programming and erasing a flash memory device degrades the memory device—a large number of program and erase cycles degrade the physical structure (e.g., dielectric layers) of the memory device, so as to end its usable lifetime. Another concern with conventional solid state drive technology is preserving the data integrity of memory bits that are programmed when other bits are erased—if the content of less than the total number of bytes of a multi-byte flash memory block and/or sector must be written to a logic 1 (i.e., erased), the logic state of other programmed bytes must be preserved. Yet another concern with conventional solid state drive technology is slow flash memory write and erase speed, in particularly when the required erasure of programmed bits wished to be written to a logic 1—this write time latency captures valuable host processing time that a host could utilize to perform other functions.
It is therefore desirable to have systems and methods that improve the usable lifetime of flash memory solid state drive devices, preserve the integrity of information stored on such devices, and improve host processing time.